Facing reality

May I make the simple suggestion that a prime reason why national television ratings for sports may have declined so is because of reality shows.

It would seem to me that reality TV is nothing more than a form of sport. It's a competition, a game, but on a coast-to-coast basis it's much more emotionally appealing than many of our sports, so I have to believe that as many people become more interested in these programs, they have less use for old-fashioned sports.

The constant problem that sports in this country suffer from is that there are just too many teams playing too many games. People -- especially local fans -- can follow their teams, but only the hardcore zealots monitor a whole sport. As a consequence, especially in the team sports with myriad games -- baseball, basketball and hockey -- home attendance may remain high, while at the same time ratings for national games decrease. To most fans, it all becomes a blur.

Let's just take one city as an example. The good people in Dallas may have cared passionately about their basketball and hockey teams, but as soon as those squads were eliminated in the playoffs, I would suspect a good number of the Dallas fans dropped their interest in the NBA and NHL playoffs and started devoting their attentions to the local baseball team, the Texas Rangers

Reality TV has a limited focus. There are only a small number of competitors and we get to meet them and know them well -- a whole lot better than our friends in Dallas ever got to know the Calgary Flames or the Milwaukee Bucks during the regular season. In many respects, reality TV shows essentially start with the elimination playoffs -- which concentrate the mind -- without having to bother us with the long, boring regular season.

Reality television shows are usually scheduled for just once or twice a week. Every competition becomes important -- in TV language, appointment viewing. Football has become the one traditional team sport that continues to have a growing national audience, and a large reason for that is that there are only a limited number of games, with the vast majority taking place on the weekends. It's no coincidence, I don't think, that the one sport which has shown great ratings gains in the past few years, is NASCAR, which follows the once-a-weekend NFL model. This year, NASCAR has dramatically whipped the NBA and the NHL in national TV ratings.

NASCAR is like an All-Star reality show every week. Everybody who follows the sport knows all the major drivers. Contrast NASCAR to the PGA, where each week there are different contenders. The casual fan can't keep them all straight, so he only stays tuned when Tiger Woods has a chance. Familiarity is so important when we are watching any kind of game. If we know the contestants, we can decide whether we want to root for or against them. That's why the NFL and NBA drafts are more interesting to more people than most actual games. We become familiar with the prospects before the draft and get attached.

Anyway, with all the competition from reality programs, maybe Major League Baseball, the NBA and the NHL will have to settle for intense local followings with declining national impact. And the hero that a nation turns its lonely eyes to is not going to be a great star who hits home runs or scores baskets but some guy who sings or picks a bride or gets a job with Donald Trump. Yes, indeed, that is your new American idol. That's reality.